How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

On Thursday, we were heading to Munich.  But, since it is only a half hour away, and because there was more of Salzburg we wanted to see, we took the morning and lunchtime to hang out in the Austrian border city before heading into Germany.

There was a steady snow, with some sticking to the ground.  It was not a sizable amount of snow, but it was fitting.

We parked once again across from Mirabell Palace, and headed into the Aldstadt (old city).  We found a breakfast cafe right next to the birth house of Mozart, and sat outside (but undercover), so it's one of the coldest settings I've had breakfast in.

We wandered around a bit, decided not to tour Mozart's house, and then headed toward the famed Winkler Terrace.  

Or at least thought that's where we were going.  Google maps let me down -- we climbed this steep staircase, and then found a small lane on the hill.  It turns out we were still a long way from Winkler Terrace at the modern art museum.  

At the same time, the hike through the snowy woods, past grand houses, was quite relaxing, especially given the silence.  Every so often a runner or car would go by, but for the most part we had the walk to ourselves. 

As we got close to the museum, we saw more and more people walking around.  Carol spot a black squirrel with unusual ears that stick up like a fox.  We passed through what was part of an old castle.

Once we got to the terrace, Salzburg spread out below us in all of its snowy beauty.  We took the elevator from the Modern Art Museum down.  Fear not, we didn't waste any time gazing at the modern art.  After the Miro Museum in Barcelona, we weren't going to make that mistake again!

Call me a Philistine, but modern art does zippo for me.  There are things I like that you don't, but I don't get all judge-y on you.  Unless you don't like baseball.  Then I do judge you, but every baseball would understand my emotions on this.  Besides, for baseball there is a winner and a loser, and in modern art, there is only losers (the biggest losers are the taxpayers when they have to foot the bill -- sort of like when taxpayers have to pay to build stadiums for mega-rich owners and damn rich players).

(Editor's Note: Is this rant going to continue for the rest of the blog post?  Blogger sheepishly: Uh, no.)    

Last time you saw this picture,

he didn't have a dusting of snow

on him.

The cafe where we had breakfast.

Mozart's birth house.

Later, higher up, I counted 19 steeples/clock

towers in Salzburg.  Here's five of them in one shot.

The Cathedral.

The Hohensalzburg Fortress through the fog and snow.

Walking in a winter wonderland!

Salzburg nestled in snow.

Part of old castle ruins.

The fortress from Winkler Terrace.

The abbey from the Sound of Music.

City hall clock tower.

Stunning cloud formation across town.